Published: Friday, March 22, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, March 21, 2013 at 9:30 p.m.

The county's new athletics and activity center should open to the public for basketball, volleyball and community functions by late May, after commissioners approved a $147,800 bid Wednesday to begin remodeling the former Hendersonville Christian School.

By a 4-0 vote, the board accepted Dunlap Construction's bid for work to renovate the school's former classroom building and 15,700-square-foot gymnasium. It includes renovating bathrooms, installing new doors and other hardware, replacing leaking skylights and other carpentry work.

Engineer Marcus Jones told commissioners he expects work on the gym and classroom building to be complete within about nine weeks, allowing public use for basketball, volleyball or sports camps and providing space for activities such as aerobics, dance, karate and arts or music instruction.

A youth basketball league has already requested to practice in the gym “and we're going to try and accommodate them by the end of the month, if we can,” said Assistant County Manager David Whitson. He said Blue Ridge Community College is already using the facility on a limited basis for law enforcement classes.

Commissioners had approved $250,000 for remodeling the facility's buildings and parking, part of roughly $1 million in upgrades to the 9.45-acre property on South Grove Street.

The county was able to cut the renovation costs by repairing heating and air conditioning systems and installing lighting fixtures using its own staff, said Central Services Manager David Berry.

“Anything I could find that we could do in-house, we did,” Berry said. “Value-engineering, we call it.”

Jones told commissioners the county was also able to save $130,000 commissioners had budgeted for creating 65 additional parking spaces, as required by city code. Hendersonville officials waived those requirements based on a parking study the county provided.

However, Whitson said some of those savings will be plowed back into creating handicapped access to the classroom building's second floor, as required by the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. Six bathrooms also have to be renovated to conform with ADA, work that had already begun Thursday.

Berry said a Plexiglass-enclosed wheelchair lift has to be installed on the building's rear wall, rather than the ramp originally envisioned.

Installation of artificial turf on the athletic center's field, along with outdoor lighting for night play, probably won't be finished until later this summer, said Tim Hopkin, county parks and recreation director. That project has been budgeted to cost roughly $635,000.

“It's not going to be ready for play this spring, that's for sure, but I'd like to have it ready for next soccer season in the fall,” Hopkin said. “And that will fall into the same time we can start programming things like flag football, lacrosse, ultimate Frisbee, any kind of field sport event.”

Hopkin said the county plans to move one employee and programming from the Stoney Mountain Activities Center into the 12,000-square-foot classroom building sometime this summer. He said the new space will allow for “expanded classes and programs” such as scrapbooking, karate, ballet, YMCA day camps, clogging, square dancing and amateur radio.

“We'll also have more space for community events,” he said. “Right now, we only have two spaces we can rent, at Edneyville (Community Center) and Dana.”

Along with their purchase of the former Christian school property in October, commissioners budgeted $284,000 in repairs and renovations to Jackson Park, which were designed to bring its ballfields back up to “tournament standards.”

The improvements include two new batting cages, doubling the number of restroom toilets, three new backstops, four new wireless scoreboards and repairs to dugouts, fencing and stairs.

Thomas Albright, chairman of the Henderson County Little League program, thanked the commissioners Wednesday and invited them to throw out the first pitch at 5:15 p.m. aPRIL 8, when nearly 100 5- and 6-year-olds return for spring play.

“Your work has not gone unnoticed, as I have already been contacted by Little League International about hosting a North Carolina 7-year-olds state championship and several (others),” Albright said.

<p>The county's new athletics and activity center should open to the public for basketball, volleyball and community functions by late May, after commissioners approved a $147,800 bid Wednesday to begin remodeling the former Hendersonville Christian School.</p><p>By a 4-0 vote, the board accepted Dunlap Construction's bid for work to renovate the school's former classroom building and 15,700-square-foot gymnasium. It includes renovating bathrooms, installing new doors and other hardware, replacing leaking skylights and other carpentry work.</p><p>Engineer Marcus Jones told commissioners he expects work on the gym and classroom building to be complete within about nine weeks, allowing public use for basketball, volleyball or sports camps and providing space for activities such as aerobics, dance, karate and arts or music instruction.</p><p>A youth basketball league has already requested to practice in the gym “and we're going to try and accommodate them by the end of the month, if we can,” said Assistant County Manager David Whitson. He said Blue Ridge Community College is already using the facility on a limited basis for law enforcement classes.</p><p>Commissioners had approved $250,000 for remodeling the facility's buildings and parking, part of roughly $1 million in upgrades to the 9.45-acre property on South Grove Street. </p><p>The county was able to cut the renovation costs by repairing heating and air conditioning systems and installing lighting fixtures using its own staff, said Central Services Manager David Berry.</p><p>“Anything I could find that we could do in-house, we did,” Berry said. “Value-engineering, we call it.”</p><p>Jones told commissioners the county was also able to save $130,000 commissioners had budgeted for creating 65 additional parking spaces, as required by city code. Hendersonville officials waived those requirements based on a parking study the county provided.</p><p>However, Whitson said some of those savings will be plowed back into creating handicapped access to the classroom building's second floor, as required by the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. Six bathrooms also have to be renovated to conform with ADA, work that had already begun Thursday.</p><p>Berry said a Plexiglass-enclosed wheelchair lift has to be installed on the building's rear wall, rather than the ramp originally envisioned.</p><p>Installation of artificial turf on the athletic center's field, along with outdoor lighting for night play, probably won't be finished until later this summer, said Tim Hopkin, county parks and recreation director. That project has been budgeted to cost roughly $635,000.</p><p>“It's not going to be ready for play this spring, that's for sure, but I'd like to have it ready for next soccer season in the fall,” Hopkin said. “And that will fall into the same time we can start programming things like flag football, lacrosse, ultimate Frisbee, any kind of field sport event.” </p><p>Hopkin said the county plans to move one employee and programming from the Stoney Mountain Activities Center into the 12,000-square-foot classroom building sometime this summer. He said the new space will allow for “expanded classes and programs” such as scrapbooking, karate, ballet, YMCA day camps, clogging, square dancing and amateur radio.</p><p>“We'll also have more space for community events,” he said. “Right now, we only have two spaces we can rent, at Edneyville (Community Center) and Dana.”</p><p>Along with their purchase of the former Christian school property in October, commissioners budgeted $284,000 in repairs and renovations to Jackson Park, which were designed to bring its ballfields back up to “tournament standards.”</p><p>The improvements include two new batting cages, doubling the number of restroom toilets, three new backstops, four new wireless scoreboards and repairs to dugouts, fencing and stairs. </p><p>Thomas Albright, chairman of the Henderson County Little League program, thanked the commissioners Wednesday and invited them to throw out the first pitch at 5:15 p.m. aPRIL 8, when nearly 100 5- and 6-year-olds return for spring play. </p><p>“Your work has not gone unnoticed, as I have already been contacted by Little League International about hosting a North Carolina 7-year-olds state championship and several (others),” Albright said. </p><p>Reach Axtell at (828) 694-7860 and than.axtell@blueridgenow.com.</p>